A lone figure ran through an alleyway. His long black silky hair swayed left and right as he paused to look back. His ruby eyes shimmered under the moon light as he scanned his surroundings - spreading his ethyr through the alley. Listening and feeling for even the faintest shift in the air before he continued to dash through the alleyways.
He was being chased – by something, by someone – and he knew it.
At first, he thought it was a shadow leech – a creature from the outskirts of the dead zone – but it wasn't; it breathed, it waited, and above all, it never looked him in the eyes.
He could feel the way it shifted whenever he turned to face it. Every movement of its muscles as it adjusted to avoid his direct gaze.
He couldn't see, but he could sense it with his unique ethyr – whoever was chasing him was scared to approach him.
Coming to a halt at a dead end, the small boy – who looked to be 10 years old – turned to face his pursuer, his breath came in ragged gasps as his mind raced with plans of getting out of this predicament.
He felt it, the figure had stopped moving, they were lurking – waiting – in the shadows, readying to pounce at him.
But then –
"Tsk. You disappoint me B72.", a voice rang out, cold but laced with an undertone of annoyance.
Surprised, the boy darted his head to the source of the sound in the quiet alley. His senses focused on the silhouette of a tall figure standing atop of a building.
Their visage shrouded in mist and full body armor. The figure adorned a black helmet – revealing only their glowing red eyes shimmering under the night sky.
"Sir – ", a nervous voice cried out as the boy's pursuer emerged from the shadows – fear and panic clear in their voice and actions – but before they could finish –
RUMBLE
A suffocating pressure fell upon both the small boy and B72 – making the shadowy figure fall unconscious. Leaving only the now kneeling boy to face the armored silhouette; the source of the oppressive ethyr.
"You are an interesting child.", said the silhouette, disappearing and reappearing in front of the small boy.
"Having such a strong ethyr at your age is impressive but holding on this long against a B rank shadow knight…that's something else entirely.", the silhouette continued, though its previously cold menacing voice now carried a hint of curiosity.
The small child, tired and bewildered asked, "What do you want from me?", his voice carrying a defiant edge despite his evident exhaustion.
The towering figure instead slowly and casually placed their hand on the boy's head, completely ignoring the frail child's attempt to escape.
"Dogs don't question their masters.", said the armored silhouette before knocking the child out.
***
Waking up, The boy found himself with a roaring headache, his mind completely disorientated from the pain.
"Argh"
A searing pain shot through his eyes as he tried to open them.
'What is going on?', thought the boy.
Being unable to open his eyes meant he couldn't use his ethyr – an extension of one's mind and will – to see.
Unlike other rare ethyr users, – who exert their ethyr outward upon their enemies. The boy focuses his ethyr into his eyes; enabling him to make out certain aspects of of what's in his field of view – shapes, sizes, the shifts in the environment around him, and if he focuses hard enough, detailed conditions and states of things around.
"Where am I?"
Without his ethyr, the young boy had to rely on his other senses.
Lifting himself off the ground, he moved his hands across the floor – feeling it's cold hard surface press against his fingertips – as he crawled on his hands and knees, his long hair landing on the back of his palms.
After a few minutes of careful crawling, he reached a wall, leaning his already weak body against it for support.
An hour passed.
'Nothing is happening.'
The boy decided he should move around and collect more information.
After some minutes of walking along the walls, he came to three realizations.
Firstly, he was inside a square room; around 13x13 feet.
Secondly, there was one metal object in one of the walls; most likely the only entrance of this room, but it was sealed shut, with no way for him to open it.
Lastly, there was a random hole in the wall opposite the metal door; only about 5 inches wide.
Though curious, he didn't dare put his hand through it, because he did not know the kind of horrors that might be in there.
Resting against a wall, the boy recalled how he got here; the shadowy figure that chased him, the sudden appearance of the armored silhouette, and his cryptic words followed by his oppressive conscious.
"B72, Shadow Knight, Dogs, Master ", he muttered the man's words as he thought of what they could possibly mean; his brain operating at 60% capacity despite the awful headache.
After a few painful minutes of thought – piecing different fragments of information together like a puzzle – he had finally come to a conclusion.
Firstly, B72; it was most likely a code name for his pursuer – a shadow knight.
Secondly, shadow knights; there were rumor of the emperor having a secret elite unit of knights – soldiers that would lay down their lives for him and never betray him.
But there was another unsettling rumor; the shadow knights were kidnapping kids – aged from 10 to 12 years old – from the slums and turning them into shadow knights; the emperor's dogs.
This led him to his conclusion.
'I was kidnapped to become one of those dogs.'